Monday, July 7th, 2014

Time	Event
12:00p	Deutsche Telekom Touts New Data Center as ‘Fort Knox’ for German Data T-Systems, the IT services arm of Deutsche Telekom AG, has opened a large data center in Biere, Germany, pitching it as a facility for customers concerned with keeping their data within the country’s borders. Following revelations of reportedly overzealous bulk data collection from electronic communications infrastructure by the U.S. National Security Agency leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, data center location has become an acute concern for many customers. Germany has been one of the multiple epicenters of the Snowden scandal, since some of the documents the whistleblower leaked to the press showed that the NSA had been tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone. Damage done Eroding trust in U.S.-based service providers that resulted from the revelations has already effected some real business damage. The German government announced late last month that it would end a contract with Verizon because it was worried the company could be helping U.S. intelligence agencies listen in on its communications, the Associated Press reported. Both T-Systems and its parent company Deutsche Telekom benefit from customers’ distrust in their U.S. competitors, such as Verizon. The German company’s messaging around the new data center couldn’t be clearer. “We are investing in Germany as a center of IT business because German data protection standards are highly valued,” Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges said in a statement. “Our customers now have a ‘High-Tech Fort Knox’ from a cloud provider they trust fully.” An August 2013 report by the German magazine Der Spiegel, however, makes the story not as clear-cut as it may seem at first. Citing certain documents from the Snowden collection, the report said German foreign intelligence agency Bundesnachrichtendienst had been actively cooperating with U.S. intelligence, passing on metadata collected from German telecommunication networks. Twin sites for full data replication In addition to the new facility in Biere, T-Systems has built a “twin site” in nearby Magdeburg. The data centers will work in tandem, replicating data across the two locations for high availability. T-Systems’ Magdeburg, Germany, data center – a twin site to the company’s data center in nearby Biere. (Photo: T-Systems) Together, the two data centers currently have capacity to support about 30,000 servers, the company said. Current total data center floor space measures about 60,000 square feet, but the sites are expandable up to a total of about 430,000 square feet. The Biere facility has received LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for environmentally friendly design features. Reseller deal with Salesforce Deutsche Telekom also announced a deal with Salesforce, whereby T-Systems will become a reseller of the company’s customer relations management products in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The CRM provider will also take space at one of the provider’s data centers in Germany in the near future. The companies plan to eventually expand the partnership to cover more countries in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. (Comment on this)
12:30p	With New Management On Board and Latest Release Out, CFEngine Gears Up for Growth The IT automation space is filled with promising upstarts and popular names like Puppet and Chef. One of the oldest names in data center automation is CFEngine, which has been relatively quiet, flying under the radar. The company refreshed its executive team in 2013 and recently released version 3.6.0, adding a number of features customers were demanding. Started in 1993 as a way for Mark Burgess to get his work done by automating a small group of workstations, CFEngine turned into a powerful tool that the likes of LinkedIn use to handle tens of thousands of machines. It’s been predominantly known in the industry as powerful but complex, but the company is working to change the latter part of the perception. CFEngine is extremely lightweight. It’s written in C and doesn’t have dependencies on “heavier” languages like Ruby and Python. It’s highly distributed, highly scalable and fully autonomous. It provides continuous operations, self healing, agility and it has a good security record with zero vulnerabilities, according to Mahesh Kumar, vice president of marketing at CFEngine, said. This has made CFEngine attractive to a wealth of large-scale customers. LinkedIn is the most cited, but other sizable customers include eBay, Localweb (hosting provider with more than 200,000 customers) Deutche Telekom, AT&T, AMD, Salesforce.com, the U.S. Department of Energy and Goldman Sachs. Its biggest customer has about 200,000 servers, according to the company. Go-to-market refresh needed badly The new executive team has been revving up the CFEngine’s go-to-market strategy. The release of version 3.6 saw ease-of-use improvements like a visual dashboard for alerts and reporting. It also improved the ability to handle even larger web-scale architectures with better policy and compliance management. “There’s magic happening. We are quiet but confident,” said Kumar, who himself joined as part of the exec refresh in late 2013. “We now have a seasoned executive team with a track record of success. We have consistently heard that we have a technical advantage from analysts, press and customers. However, we didn’t do a good job in terms of mindshare. Now we’re about focusing on the right things – you can have great technology but you need a good go-to-market strategy.” Perhaps one reason the company has flown under the radar is that it hasn’t received massive funding rounds like some of its competitors have — the company raised a $5.5 million Series A in 2011 — but it hasn’t really needed them. Without aggressive marketing, it still saw 70 percent growth in license revenue from 2012 to 2013. Features to please customers The latest release introduced a visual alerts dashboard, which shows the entire infrastructure at a glance, including whether or not machines are adhering to compliance policies. Users can set policy, be alerted to drifts and deviations from the same, drill into and diagnose issues and take relevant and necessary remedial action on non-compliant elements in their environment. Extensible visual inventory reports were added. Coding was made more efficient, resulting in a 90-percent reduction in required coding, according to the company. “Customers said automation was good, but if there’s no control, I can’t handle it,” said Kumar. “We added more control. Customers wanted alerts and warnings, as well as a better way to visualize the environment, so we added it. For web-scale, we added a new Postgres SQL backend. We have a multi-hub architecture so you can spin up multiple hubs. There’s also vastly improved collection speeds.” Limitless scalability CFEngine recently spun up 8,000 machines on AWS to see how it scales. Kumar said they quit at 8,000, not because it stopped scaling, but because there was no end in sight. “It would have kept going and been a big bill,” he said. “Following heartbleed, we were able to patch 30,000 systems at a leading online merchant in a matter of hours,” he added. “It can scale because [of] the extremely light footprint.” CFEngine is sold in an open-core distribution model. The core product is open source and freely available but a swath of useful tools comes with a license fee and maintenance contract. Some of the advantages of the enterprise edition include the Mission Portal GUI, which provides inventory management, auditing and compliance, real-time monitoring, alerts and reporting. The Enterprise edition gives the ability to define custom compliance policies, has cross-platform support and is integration-ready with many monitoring tools and portals, such as CMDB and Git. What started as a simple tool in 1993 grew into a powerful tool as the years passed. Now it’s becoming more flexible and extending capabilities even further.   (Comment on this)
12:30p	It’s Time for IT to Take Control of BYOA John Purcell is the Senior Director of Products at LogMeIn, Inc, overseeing the company’s IT management business. IT departments that are waiting to make necessary changes in device and application management are sitting on a ticking time bomb. As an industry, we learned a while ago about what it means to have employees bring their own devices into the office, and many IT professionals played catch up to accommodate the various support – and more important, security – requirements that presented themselves as a result. BYOD is here to stay, and the Bring Your Own Applications (BYOA) trend has quickly joined the fray. While not new, there are many IT departments that have yet to address how they will manage these apps. The time is now The shift from enterprise-grade software to simply, “there’s an app for that,” began a while ago. This is driving the rise of BYOA in the workplace. The security that IT used to rely on is crumbling. The IT department has a big stake in the solution, whether or not leadership and employees acknowledge it. In a recent survey conducted by LogMeIn and Edge Strategies to explore the usage and adoption of employee-introduced cloud applications in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, more than 70 percent said that their organizations are experiencing some type of BYOA, and while 42 percent expect this to become more significant in the workplace, only 20 percent felt their companies would do anything about it. IT professionals surveyed estimated that they have, on average, 2.8 applications that were brought into their organization by employees. Our data based on companies analyzed in the past six months, shows the average to be closer to 21 apps – more than seven times what IT estimates. How did we get here? It can be traced back to the original value proposition of the cloud itself. Cloud computing, storage and applications have become the foundation of modern productivity. In spite of the fact that companies are providing software and applications to their employees, workers continue to source their own based on personal preference and what makes them most productive. Further, the research found that even when IT is involved in the acquisition of cloud application licenses, employees continue to use free or individually managed versions of these applications. Why? Almost 40 percent of respondents said they didn’t feel they needed to involve IT, because it was just for their team or individual use. Employees don’t feel the need to consult IT, and they’re letting them get away with it. That presents a risk. How to solve the problem First, identify your baseline. If you’re an IT professional, take an honest look at where you are today, and where you want to be in the future. If employees don’t feel the need to consult you, that’s a foundational issue. With free flowing data these assets must be secured. Understand the scale and reality of BYOA in your company. This starts with an awareness of what’s going on at each employee’s desk and on the corporate network. How widespread is the problem? You also need to be strategic. The role of IT needs to be fundamentally redefined if IT professionals want to regain their strategic voice, and this means reinventing the way they approach the management of apps, devices and data in the BYO era. The study finds IT pros falling into three very distinct camps: Active gatekeepers: 30 percent of IT pros manage BYOA by actively blocking cloud apps from their workplace. This is the role IT has traditionally taken—one of saying “no” to users and policing what they do. Passive observer: A full 39 percent of IT pros report that they are employing a “sit-back-and-take-it” approach by neither monitoring nor managing BYOA at all. Strategic facilitators: 29 percent of IT pros manage BYOA through a combination of analyzing web traffic logs, packet sniffing and/or device monitoring. Strategic facilitators promise to be the best suited as they embrace the BYOA trend as a reality, but don’t try to stop it in its path with strict gatekeeping policies. The solution is to enable employees to embrace what makes them happy and productive, while still maintaining and managing those apps to ensure organizational security and compliance. It’s the “Goldilocks” solution – not too autocratic, not too permissive. Everyone, including the company, wins. Showcasing the benefits from these employee-introduced applications communicates that IT is a friend and not a scolding foe. It also creates an environment where employees can use their app of choice properly with IT as a helpful partner. Taking control of BYOA This BYOA phenomenon isn’t going away. IT has got to recognize the line they are trying to walk – a balance between security and employee productivity. IT professionals can decide what role they want to play. They can act as gatekeepers and restrict app adoption, act as passive observers and let the adoption happen without their involvement, or they can act as strategic facilitators, managing and shaping the adoption and direction of the growing BYOA trend. IT, you have never been more important than you are today. Don’t be the last to do something about BYOA. Industry Perspectives is a content channel at Data Center Knowledge highlighting thought leadership in the data center arena. See our guidelines and submission process for information on participating. View previously published Industry Perspectives in our Knowledge Library. (Comment on this)
1:00p	Toshiba Launches Largest Data Center UPS in G9000 Line Toshiba has launched the largest unit to date in its line of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems for data centers and other mission-critical facilities. The G9000 data center UPS is an online double-conversion system with 1,000 kVA or 1,000 kW capacity. Energy Star-certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the system is 97-percent efficient, according to the vendor. Units previously included in the G9000 product line featured capacities ranging from 100 to 750 kVA. The entire line is designed for stand-alone or parallel use in configurations up to eight units, without paralleling or load sharing intelligence in the switchgear needed. The new unit runs at 97-percent efficiency when loaded to 50 percent to 100 percent. Even at 20 percent load, however, its efficiency is 95 percent. It supports 100 percent unbalanced loads and 100 percent step-load changes without battery discharge. The unit does not need a front-end harmonic filter, producing less than three percent input current total harmonic distortion. (Comment on this)
2:00p	Data Center Jobs: ViaWest At the Data Center Jobs Board, we have two new job listings from ViaWest, which is seeking a Data Center Manager and a Data Center Engineer – Mechanical in Englewood, Colorado. The Data Center Manager is responsible for managing facilities staff to deliver expected service levels to the client within the prescribed budget, coordinating work assignments among building technicians, vendors, and contractors, reviewing work orders to ensure that assignments are completed, developing and maintaining positive relationships with clients, and responding to problems in a tactful and expedient manner. To view full details and apply, see job listing details. The Data Center Engineer – Mechanical is responsible for monitoring the building’s HVAC, mechanical and electrical systems, performing preventive maintenance, site surveys, replacement of electrical and mechanical equipment, reading and interpreting blueprints, engineering specifications, project plans and other technical documents, performing operation, installation and servicing of peripheral devices, assisting with equipment start-ups, repairs and overhauls, and preparing reports on facility performance. To view full details and apply, see job listing details. Are you hiring for your data center? You can list your company’s job openings on the Data Center Jobs Board, and also track new openings via our jobs RSS feed. (Comment on this)
3:00p	Data Center World Orlando Conference The Data Center World Orlando Conference will be held October 19 through October 22 at the Hyatt Regency. Enjoy best in class speakers, vendors, networking and more – all in one beautiful venue. The goal? To provide an educational experience facilitated by the most respected minds in data center and facilities management so you can return to your office with a solid action plan and valuable business contacts. For more information about this year’s conference, visit Data Center World Fall 2014. Venue Hyatt Regency 9801 International Drive, Orlando, FL, 32819 For more information about the Hyatt Regency Orlando and to book your reservation, follow this link. To view additional events, return to the Data Center Knowledge Events Calendar. (Comment on this)
4:01p	mCube Raises $37M to Simplify Chip Manufacturing for ‘Internet of Moving Things’ Silicon Valley-based maker of small motion sensors for the Internet of Things mCube has raised $37 million in a series C funding round to accelerate and expand its monolithic, single-chip design approach that the company says is simple to manufacture and easy to design into a wide range of products. Building microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) as small as sand, the company says that it helps enable an “Internet of Moving Things,” where the movement and context of everyday objects and devices can be measured, monitored and analyzed, generating data and insights that will change consumer experiences. “mCube is well positioned with the world’s smallest MEMS motion sensors to enable this high-growth new market we refer to as the Internet of Moving Things,” said Ben Lee, president and CEO of mCube. “Virtually anything in motion can benefit from mCube’s high-performance and low-power sensors.” Founded in 2009 mCube has shipped more than 60 million extremely small semiconductor chips. Accelerometers using its MEMS technology are installed in Android smartphones and tablets. The company also produces magnetic sensors and the iGyro, a 9 Degrees of Freedom software-based gyroscope. Original investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers joined this recent round. Early partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which produces mCube-designed designs, invested invested as well. Other existing investors that took part in the round include MediaTek, iD Ventures America and DAG Ventures. New investors include Keytone Ventures, SK Telecom (China) Ventures and Korea Investment Partners. mCube believes the market for moving things is a huge opportunity, and with the funding round it can expand further in the markets for consumer, mobile and wearables, in such areas as 3D gaming on smartphones and tablets, smart watches, automotive or commercial trucking, shipping and sensor tags used in monitoring farm animals. The chips are small in size, power consumption, and cost — prices range from 30 to 70 cents per chip. The company says its MEMS design represents the next generation of sensors – very small, single-chip MEMS+ASIC devices that are cost effective, consume low power but provide high performance. “It’s rare for a new MEMS supplier to ramp to high volume quickly as MEMS are typically very complex and hard to manufacture,” said Tony Massimini, CTO for Semico Research. “It’s especially impressive for mCube to ship 60 million units within 2.5 years of product launch. With a proven design that is ground-breaking in terms of its small size, ‘manufacturability’ and high level of integration, mCube will be an important company to watch in MEMS.” (Comment on this)
4:19p	Top 5 Data Center Stories, Week of July 3rd For your weekend reading, we present a recap of five noteworthy stories that appeared on Data Center Knowledge this past week. Google Replaces MapReduce With New Hyper-Scale Cloud Analytics System – > Some Data Center Downtime Causes are Unpredictable: 10 Strangest Ones – > Microsoft Kicks Off $350M Data Center Expansion in Virginia | Data Center Knowledge – > Microsoft General Counsel Calls for NSA Surveillance Reform – > Microsoft Azure Cloud’s Brazil South Region Goes Live | Data Center Knowledge – > Microsoft Apologizes, Details Exchange Outage – > IBM SoftLayer Cloud Expands With London Data Center – > Microsoft Gets $5M to Study Fuel Cells and Disrupt Data Center Power – > Amazon Cloud Servers Now Come in Tiny but Burstable Sizes – > Joyent: SmartDataCenter is Better Cloud for Enterprise than OpenStack – > (Comment on this)
7:19p	Report: AWS Data Center May Be Coming to Germany Amazon’s next data center to support its public cloud services may be located in Germany, according to an operations employee at a German mobile marketing startup, who found an Amazon Web Services end node identified as ec2.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com using open source cryptography tools. “A traceroute to ec2.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com is showing us that the traffic is going to Frankfurt am Main,” Nils Jünemann, vice president of operations at Bitplaces, wrote in a post on his personal blog describing the discovery. The post was first spotted by The Register. AWS is extremely secretive about everything that has to do with its data centers, including their precise locations. Cloud providers try to have data center presence in as many densely-populated areas as possible so they can provide lower service latency to users in those areas. Amazon currently has only one fully-fledged European data center supporting its cloud located in Ireland. It does also have “edge locations” in Amsterdam, Marseillle, Milan, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Stockholm, Madrid and Warsaw. As Jünemann mentioned in his post, AWS senior vice president Andy Jassy has said publicly that the company had identified Germany as one of the handful of countries with high customer demand for a dedicated German AWS data center. An AWS spokesperson sent us an email saying, “We’re constantly getting feedback from customers on where they would like the next AWS region and have a long list of target countries we are looking at. We’re always re-evaluating and re-prioritizing that list. and Germany is one of the many countries that we are currently looking at. “In the fullness of time you can expect AWS regions in multiple major countries around the world.” Not just about latency anymore In light of Edward Snowden’s information leaks that indicated widespread spying on international electronic communications by the U.S. National Security Agency, the need for a data center in Germany to serve German customers may have gone beyond latency concerns. Speaking at the GigaOm Structure conference in San Francisco in June, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith recalled a meeting with a group of CIOs in Berlin in May where CIO for a German state said there was no way his organization would store data in any American company’s data center until the U.S. government stopped permitting its law enforcement to access private citizens’ information stored in data centers outside of the country. Brazil’s government contemplated legislation for an outright ban on storing Brazilian users’ data beyond the country’s borders. The provision, however, was struck from an Internet privacy bill in March, Reuters reported. Lower house of the Russian parliament passed a law late last week seeking to do just what the Brazilian government has backed out of, BBC reported. The Russian law, however, is viewed more as an attempt by the government to increase control of information on the Internet than as a result of genuine concern for citizens’ data privacy. A number of European service providers have been using the post-Snowden erosion of trust in their U.S. counterparts to their advantage. Deutsche Telekom AG subsidiary T-Systems, for example, put data location front and center in messaging around its new data center in Biere, Germany. (Comment on this)

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